How To Get A Job In The Travel Industry

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Dan Roberts is founder and Managing Editor at Travel Generation.Dan has spent the last 20 years working in the backpacking industry and travelling throughout the world including UK, France, Switzerland, Portugal, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. ...Find out more!

Quite simply if you want a job in the travel industry the best place to start is to get an internationally recognised qualification. Whether you want a career in airline operations, hotels and hospitality, tour operations or a travel agency those with qualifications are more likely to get the best jobs and subsequently more likely to earn more. So what should you look for in a training provider for your first steps (or even the next step in your career path) in the travel and tourism industry.

1. A complete course structure

Look for tourism courses that will provide you as the student a broad understanding of the whole travel industry sector you are interested in. Whether you are looking for training to be a travel agent or flight attendant training choose a course that encapsulates everything about that sector. That way your prospective employer only needs to train you in the specific areas of your new job.

2. Work experience as part of the course

Find a course that has a work experience programme as part of it. There is no point having a list of qualifications as long as your arm but no work experience to get that desired job. Find a travel college that has work experience partners to help you up skill (and help pay the bills while you are training).

3. Assistance with post-study employment

Evaluate the courses after graduation support. That is, a great travel training provider will open doors for their students into the tourism and travel industry through their contacts and partnerships. Some travel and tourism course providers will even have partnerships where prospective employers will exclusively recruit through the school towards the end of the students study programme. This gives you a huge step up over others in the new job market.

4. An internationally recognised qualification

Don’t just look at home for your qualifications. Why do you think you want to work in the travel industry? “Because I like travel of course!” For example, the International Travel College in Auckland, New Zealand is one of the world’s premium recognised travel industry providers offering students from all over the world one and two year courses, plus work experience. Most of the students go on to work in the New Zealand travel industry for a year after graduating to gain even more experience before returning home to high paid and well respect jobs.

Getting an internationally recognised qualification is undoubtedly the best way to kick start your tourism career. Travel and tourism is a very competitive industry and anyone who can prove that not only do they have a great grounding in the industry but also an ability to commit themselves to a challenge such as getting qualified, and to a high standard, are obviously going to be any employers first choice. If you really have a desire to forge a career in the airline, travel and tourism industry then do yourself a favour don’t just get a qualification - do your research and hunt out a top internationally recognised training college that covers all the bases.

5. Build a realistic plan

The first step in realising a goal is to actually work out what that goal is and then to put in place the steps to realistically achieve that goal. If you want a great paying job in the travel and tourism industry you need to be knowing early on how you are going to get from today to that job. Often roles in the travel industry have an actual pathway of qualifications. Finding a training institute that offers the qualifications at all the levels required for your chosen career will make your education plan so much easier. Being able to complete all your study at one training college or know that if you do decide to carry on with more advanced study the prospect is there helps make achieving your goals much more realistic.

This travel story is sponsored by International Travel College

The International Travel College in Auckland, New Zealand is considered to be one of the best in the world for training graduates for the travel and tourism industry and helping them to get a foot on the ladder through their work experience programmes and post-study job placements. The College offers a raft of qualifications registered and accredited with the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA), the International Air Transport Association (IATA/UFTAA), CODECO, CabinCrew Direct, Cruise Ship Diploma Direct and Microsoft.